Game - Maze

The classic Maze game, find your way through the randomly generated maze. Click within the games grid to begin the game. Press the END key to display the end point, or press the HOME key to show the start point again. Use the left, right, up, down arrow keys on your keyboard to move your game marker through the maze. Click here to load a new random maze.
Click here to try a simpler maze (smaller) .

This game requires a browser that supports Java.

This free online game is the classic Maze puzzle game. Click with your mouse anywhere within the games grid to begin. Only the keyboard is used once you start the game. Press the END key to display the game end point, or press the HOME key to show the game start point again. Use the arrow keys to move your game marker through the maze. Ensure your NUM LOCK (numeral lock) light is OFF, or the arrow keys will not work in the game (simply press the NUM LOCK button to change the light, when it is OFF your arrow keys will work).

The wall follower, the best-known rule for traversing mazes, is also known as either the left-hand rule or the right-hand rule. If the maze is simply connected, that is, all its walls are connected together or to the maze's outer boundary, by keeping one hand in contact with one wall of the maze the player is guaranteed not to get lost and will reach a different exit if there is one; otherwise, he or she will return to the entrance. If the maze is not simply connected, this method will not help a player to find the disjoint parts of the maze.

Wall following can be done in 3D or higher dimensional mazes if its higher dimensional passages can be projected onto the 2D plane in a deterministic manner. For example, if in a 3D maze "up" passages can be assumed to lead northwest, and "down" passages can be assumed to lead southeast, then standard wall following rules can then be applied.

The Pledge algorithm, designed to circumvent obstacles, requires an arbitrarily chosen direction to go toward. When an obstacle is met, one hand (say the right hand) is kept along the obstacle while the angles turned are counted. When the solver is facing the original direction again, and the angular sum of the turns made is 0, the solver leaves the obstacle and continues moving in its original direction.

This algorithm allows a person with a compass to find his way from any point inside to an outer exit of any finite and fair two-dimensional maze, regardless of the initial position of the solver. However, this algorithm will not work in doing the reverse, namely finding the way from an entrance on the outside of a maze to some end goal within it.